Cruising the Med on New SUNSHINE

Sail Date:
June 2013

Destination:
Europe - Western Mediterranean

Embarkation:
Venice

The Carnival Sunshine was a thought in my mind since I first saw it on carnival.com. We booked immediately and we were on the fourth sailing! Lets start with the good, and get to the not so good in a bit.

Good:

The ship was amazing! Such a beautiful ship! The water slides were great and the sports area was really fun! JiJi Asian Kitchen was probably the best asian food I have had in my entire life and Fahrenheit 555 was fenomenal. Didn't try Cucina del Capitano, but we heard it was also great. The cabin was a pretty good size and the bathroom was big enough! The shows were the best I have ever seen on any cruise ship, and Epic Rock was truly EPIC! The ports were amazing, and every carnival organized tour was very interesting, informative, and stress free. Being a carnival organized tour, we didn't have to worry about missing the ship if something happened. Restaurants by the pool and the pizza was a great lunch and afternoon snack.

We absolutely loved More
Noonan, the cruise director. He was so funny and his wife who did trivia and organized disembarkation for excursions was so nice to talk to.

Not So Good:

Two words: VERY CROWDED! Sometimes we couldn't even find a lounge chair and stayed in the room for some time when we had nothing to do. The TV blew. Mostly every channel was out of sync and 90% of the other channels were Carnival channels. We had no mini fridge in our balcony room and the balcony had some rust stains. The first few days I saw workers painting on the SPA decks, which gave off ammonia smells. The propulsion stopped working leaving Monaco for about 15 minutes, making guests scared and delayed for Palma de Mallorca. Many elevators didn't work as well which caused a lot of time waiting for a elevator. Guest Services was always crowded and they didn't have the best attitude when dealing with them. The buffet was HORRIBLE on this ship, the worst I ever experienced. They served the same food every day. If you like a variety, definitely choose a Guy Burger, a Blue Iguana Burrito, or the Havanna Bar/JiJi/Cucina Pasta Bar for a great free lunch. There are only two pools: Main Beach Pool and the pool in Serenity, a little disappointing. Hasbro the Gameshow was a let down the second time seeing it. It is basically a bunch of screaming little kids hoping to get on stage.

Overall, Sunshine is a beautiful ship with a few flaws that weren't major problems that didn't drastically effect our time on the boat. If I had to rate the ship out of 10, I'd give it a 8.7. If I had to rate the excursions, I'd give it a 10+. I would totally recommend the Carnival Sunshine and cruising the Med at any time. Less